The slaves in the Carribean came from Africa!! Let me explain fully: When the Spanish & Portuguese went to South America and the Caribbean, they attempted to enslave the native (Amerindian) population there. This was called the Encomeninda (mispell) system. However most native Americans died off from exposure to European diseases, and the type of work being forced on them. In the first 10 years of European contact, literally millions (hundreds of millions) of Amerindians died, as a result...the Spanish & Portuguese were forced to look elsewhere for slave labor. The place they decided to look was Africa. Through the Trans-Saharan trade, and the contact which Portugal had with Africa over the previous 50 years, both countries were familiar with African slave labor.
The plantations (sugar & tobacco) of the Caribbean were extremely profitable. So much so that Spain could afford to regularly ship slaves from Africa every few months (to replace the slaves who died with frightening frequency). Indeed conditions were so harsh in the Caribbean that once slaves arrived they had an average life expectancy of only 7 years. Keep in mind that slaves were taken from 12-30 years of age (these were people in the prime of their lives)! Because slaves were regularly supplied directly from Africa, they were not bred like in America. Birth rates were extremely low, in fact they did not happen in significant numbers until the slave trade was abolished in 1809.
Unlike the Spanish colonies of the Caribbean. The British colony of North America was poor in comparison. The 1st North American settlement (of what is now the USA) was founded in Roanoke, Virginia in 1607. This was over a 100 years after the Spanish Caribbean settlements. The 1st planations of the British (cotton, indigo, rice, etc) were no where near as profitable. As a result, they could not afford to ship slaves directly from Africa on a regular basis. What they do instead was to buy slaves from the Caribbean Islands. In addition because of their limited funds...they bred slaves, and in turn enslaved their children.
This is a general (extremely basic) explanation about the major difference between US & Caribbean slavery. It also explains why blacks in the West Indies have a closer connection to African than most African Americans!!
Posted By: DAVID JOHNSON
Friday, February 14th 2014 at 3:55PM
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